Playing Games: The Republican Mad Lib Budget

The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank clearly read the Republican budget proposal – or, read what was possible, at least. As he explains in his column today, the Republican budget proposed by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan is full of magic asterisks and undisclosed cuts:

“The former Republican vice presidential candidate’s budget eliminates ___ loopholes in the tax code, cutting the ___ and the ____ deductions. It reduces spending on the ____ program by _____ and the _____ program by _____. Retirees would see ____, students would experience ____ and the poor would be _____.”

“There are so many blanks in Ryan’s budget that it could be a Mad Libs exercise. But this is not a game. It’s black-box budgeting — an expression of lofty aims, with binders full of magic asterisks in lieu of specific cuts to government benefits.”

But, when Rep. Paul Ryan does include to detail his budget proposals…

“…he continues to peddle the same ideas: the partial privatization of Medicare; a 10 percent reduction in the federal workforce; and cuts to Medicaid, food stamps, education, job training and farm programs.”

Rep. Ryan may have forgotten, but many of those are the same unpopular proposals that the American voters rejected.

Instead of a budget that leaves us with more questions than answers or solutions, it’s time for a responsible and real proposal that restores our fiscal credibility.